Ara Pacis Illuminated: 3D models shed light on shadowy theory [update]

Biblical Archaeology Review / Bible History Daily ^ | April 3, 2016 | Robin Ngo

[SunkenCiv]

Using NASA data and 3D modeling, Indiana University Bloomington professor Bernard Frischer and his research team have dispelled a long-held theory regarding the relationship between two famous monuments in ancient Rome.

The Ara Pacis Augustae, or Altar of Augustan Peace, was built in 9 B.C.E. in ancient Rome's Campus Martius. The marble altar stood as a propagandistic celebration of the peace and prosperity ushered into the new empire by Rome's first emperor, Augustus. Near the Ara Pacis sat a 71-foot-high granite obelisk brought from Egypt by Augustus, which served as the gnomon, or pointer, of a meridian line. Following a 1976 theory proposed by German scholar Edmund Buchner, popular belief holds that the obelisk (now called the Obelisk of Montecitorio) was positioned to cast a shadow down the center of the altar on Augustus's birthday on September 23.

...Frischer and his research team created a 3D model of the Ara Pacis and the obelisk -- neither of which still sit in their original placement in Rome -- as they were originally positioned in the 490-acre Campus Martius along the Via Flaminia, a major roadway in the ancient city. The researchers additionally used data from NASA's Horizons System, a computation service that can provide information on the position of celestial objects at any point in history as seen from any point on earth. A simulation made by the Virtual World Heritage Laboratory, Indiana University and the IDIA Lab, Ball State University allowed the researchers to test whether or not Buchner's theory held water -- and it did not. The simulation demonstrates that on September 23 in 9 B.C.E., the shadow cast by the obelisk veered south on its approach to the altar and thus did not reach the center of the monument (see video below).

[SunkenCiv]

from Vimeo:

[from Bernard Frischer PRO | 2 years ago] In this video we see screen capture of the simulation of the northern Campus Martius made by the Virtual World Heritage Laboratory, Indiana University and the IDIA Lab, Ball State University. Using data from NASA's Horizons System, the simulation allows the user to change the time of day, day of the year, and year any time in the period 9 BCE to 40 CE. In this video, the simulation is used to test the validity of a thesis first proposed by Edmund Buchner in 1976. Buchner proposed that the Horologium and Ara Pacis of Augustus are aligned in such a way that on Augustus' birthday (September 23), the shadow of the obelisk (which serves as the pointer of the horologium) follows the equinoctial line across a paved plaza. The line can be hypothetically extended beyond the pavements of the horologium to the Ara Pacis immediately to the east. Buchner speculated that the shadow continued through the middle of the Ara Pacis. The simulation shows that this is not the case: the shadow veers to the south as it approaches the western facade of the Ara Pacis and thus does not reach the middle of the altar.

[SunkenCiv]

[DannyTN]

Yeah but that’s because the sun moved out of position since then. It’s a space-time anomaly caused by CERN.

[martin_fierro]

Following a 1976 theory proposed by German scholar Edmund Buchner, popular belief holds that the obelisk (now called the Obelisk of Montecitorio) was positioned to cast a shadow down the center of the altar on Augustus's birthday on September 23.

Yer all wet, Fritzie!

[rjsimmon]

...was positioned to cast a shadow down the center of the altar on Augustus's birthday on September 23.

Maybe they got his birthday wrong...

[pierrem15]

It’s close enough to make me wonder if they did the date translations correctly.

[pierrem15]

Battle of Actium on Sep. 2?

[SunkenCiv]

:’D

[SunkenCiv]

LOL

[SunkenCiv]

Why Does George Washington Have Two Birthdays?

[SunkenCiv]

This is the same problem archaeoastronomy almost always has -- some claim is made about some alignment, but there's no basis in ancient inscriptions or other ancient documentation, IOW, it's a modern anachronism.

[bunkerhill7]

Yes I’m bein’ followed by a moonshadow, moonshadow, moonshadow
Leapin’ and hoppin’ on a moonshadow, moonshadow, moonshadow